Dirty laundry averts nuclear disaster

subscribe

A nuclear leak in Britain that could have caused a disaster was averted by a chance decision to wash some dirty clothes, according to a newly obtained official report, The Guardian says.

On the morning of Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007, one of the contractors working on decommissioning the Sizewell A nuclear-power station on the Suffolk coast was in the laundry room when he noticed cooling water leaking onto the floor from the pond that holds the reactor's highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. The pond water level had dropped as much as 30 centimetres, yet none of the sophisticated alarms in the plant sounded in the main control room.

By the time of the next scheduled inspection, the pond level would have dipped enough to expose the nuclear fuel rods – potentially causing them to overheat and catch fire, sending a plume of radioactive contamination along the coastline.

Related News

belgium nuclear

Nuclear helps Belgium increase electricity exports in 2019

BELGIUM - Belgium's electricity transmission system operator, Elia, said that the major trends in 2019 were a steady increase in (mainly offshore) renewable power generation, better availability of nuclear-generating facilities and an increase in electricity exports.

In 2019, 48.8% of the power generated in Belgium came from nuclear plants. This was in line with the total for 2017 (50%) and significantly more than in 2018 (31.2%) when several reactors were unavailable.

Belgium exported more electricity in 2019 than it imported with net exports of 1.8TWh (2.1% of the energy mix), in contrast to 2018 when Belgium imported 17.5TWh (20%).

Elia said this “should…

READ MORE
power lines

Power firms win UK subsidies for new Channel cables project

READ MORE

Hydro-Quebec shocks cottage owner with $5,300 in retroactive charges

READ MORE

Manitoba Hydro applying for 5 per cent interim rate increase

Consumers Coalition wants Manitoba Hydro?s proposed rate increase rejected

READ MORE

U.A.E. Becomes First Arab Nation to Open a Nuclear Power Plant

U.A.E. Becomes First Arab Nation to Open a Nuclear Power Plant

READ MORE